Two leading GDS this week took steps to improve the ability of corporate travellers to book rail trips.
GetThere, Sabre's corporate booking tool, linked up with SNCF to provide enhanced booking facilities on the French national train operator.
Amadeus announced trials of a new booking tool for all rail companies in the UK.
The GetThere innovation is a direct connection to SNCF's new RIVA 3 platform which will provide access for French corporates to fares for SNCF, Eurostar and Thalys, the Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam service.
The facility will display both air and rail fares for a trip and enable users to book online.
It will also enforce compliance to a company's travel policy by indicating which are the negotiated and preferred fares.
The new connection builds on previous co-operation between SNCF and Sabre.
It is now available to all Sabre and Amadeus agents in France and will be rolled out to those using Galileo later this year.
Jérôme Bourreau, deputy ceo of VSC Technologies, SNCF's technology partner, said: "The interface makes it seamless for bookers, and the behind-the-scenes technology serves up multiple policy-compliant options at the point of sale."
Amadeus said it would start trialling its new Rail Plus tool before the summer and hopefully roll it out in the early autumn.
The new tool will give agents a tool fully integrated into the GDS which can book trips on any UK domestic train company.
The trial will involve five Amadeus agents in the UK and probably start later this month.
Stephane Durand, Amadeus' manager for the UK and Ireland, said Rail Plus would initially be aimed at SME market.
Amadeus also announced that it had bought a controlling interest in Onerail, a company based in Sydney and Toronto providing IT to the rail industry.
Amadeus said the acquisition enabled it to offer "core, next generation technology solutions to help rail companies become more integrated with air travel."
This included "a fully-integrated inventory, pricing, reservation and distribution system, enabling domestic and international distribution, alongside other forms of transport."
Philippe Chérèque, Amadeus' senior vp corporate strategy, said: "This allows us to offer massive value to rail companies and, by developing deeper relationships with these vital travel providers, improve our offer to travel agencies and management companies too."
* UK travel management company Click Travel has signed a deal with thetrainline.com, the online booking engine for rail trips, to give its clients a seamless self booking facility. Simon McLean, Click Travel's managing director, said: "For too long many travel management companies have neglected their rail offering, citing difficulties with the search and booking process. By integrating TheTrainline content into our online platform we are adding yet more flexibility and choice for our customers."
* see BTE Analysis